Social Commerce Summit kicks off in Manhattan Beach

By AI, Created 4:50 PM UTC, May 18, 2026, /AGP/ – The inaugural Social Commerce Summit launches May 14-15 in Manhattan Beach, California, bringing more than 500 registered operators, platform leaders, brands, agencies, investors and founders together to focus on what is driving social commerce growth. The event is already more than 90% full and will center on creator economics, platform updates, AI, compliance and capital strategy.

Why it matters: - Social commerce is converging into a single market that now spans affiliate marketing, influencer commerce, creator-led direct-to-consumer growth, TikTok Shop, live shopping, platform-native selling and social-driven discovery. - The summit is designed as a neutral forum for the operators building that market to compare operating notes and pressure-test what is actually working. - The event is aimed at senior practitioners, not a broad consumer audience, which makes the discussion more focused on execution, economics and scaling.

What happened: - The inaugural Social Commerce Summit launch event will take place May 14-15, 2026 at the westdrift Hotel Manhattan Beach in Manhattan Beach, California. - Social Commerce News is producing the event. - The summit will convene senior operators, platform leaders, brand executives, agency leaders, investors and founders. - Attendance is complimentary for qualified applicants. - More than 500 people have registered, and the event is now more than 90% at capacity. - Qualified applicants must register by Wednesday, May 13 to be considered. - Registration is available at SOCOMMSUMMIT.COM.

The details: - Opening night on Thursday, May 14 will feature keynote presentations from Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital; Eric Siu, founder of Single Grain; and Glenn Sanford, managing director and publisher of SUCCESS®. - Patel’s session, “30 Charts That Show the Future of E-Commerce Marketing,” will focus on channel performance, LLM-driven discovery, social commerce, AI-powered personalization and smarter segmentation. - Patel and Siu will also host a live version of Marketing School, their marketing podcast. - Friday, May 15 will include a full day of mainstage programming with speakers from major platforms, consumer brands and social commerce companies. - Platform speakers include Heidi Levyn of Meta, Vincent Launet of TikTok, and Lindsay Pasteris and Avery Burridge of YouTube Shopping. - Brand and operator speakers include Jay Hunter of Sprinter and k2o by Sprinter; Shahab Elmi of Cymbiotika; Puneet Nanda of GuruNanda; Rémi Martini of SARELLY; Brandee Shtevi Winikoff of Unilever; Aaron Jones of Liquid I.V.; Lauren Hill of ColourPop; Eugenia Kovalenko of Dr. Squatch; Shahzad Khan of K18 Hair; David Vanderveen of Prenetics and IM8 Health; and William August of Outlandish. - The summit will also include a Financial and Investment Session on capital strategy, M&A, scaling mechanics and the financial realities behind growth in social commerce. - Speakers in that session include David Vanderveen, Carl Daikeler, co-founder and CEO of BODi and P90X, and Nital Patel Scott, CFO of K18 Hair. - The venue is 1400 Park View Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, about 15 minutes from Los Angeles International Airport.

Between the lines: - Stuart Johnson, CEO and founder of Social Commerce News, framed the event as a response to how fast the category is moving and said the goal is to shape the operating norms for the market. - The speaker lineup shows where the category’s attention is concentrated: platforms, creator commerce, brand execution, and the financing needed to scale. - The inclusion of AI, LLM-driven discovery and capital strategy suggests the market is no longer just about social distribution, but about the full commerce stack around it.

What’s next: - Applications will continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis until the registration deadline. - The two-day program will start with opening-night keynotes on May 14 and continue with platform, brand, operator and investment sessions on May 15. - More information is available at SOCOMMSUMMIT.COM or by email at info@socialcommercenews.com. - Social Commerce News has positioned the summit as a recurring industry forum focused on real operating insight for the converging social commerce market.